EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY IN THE CONTEXT OF STATE CHARACTER COMMISSION: A PROGNOSIS AND BALANCE OF FEDERALISM IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The return to civil rule in 1999 was one which quite excited many Nigerians occasioned by the protracted years of military rule. However, with the intermittent implementation of the 1999 Constitution, which was hurriedly decreed into existence by the then military regime of General Abdulsalam Abubakar, devoid of any rigorous debate or referendum sequel to decree No 24 of 1999. However, the obvious constitutional conundrum associated with the said implementation, especially as it relates to the concept of federal character principle which is a genre of equality of opportunity, made the above referenced euphoria not to last long. Therefore, to stem the noted constitutional tide, successive administrations responded vide integrative and accommodative paradigms inclusive of the establishment of Federal Character Commission as provided in section 153 (1) (c), and Third Schedule Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution, notwithstanding the express provision of section 2(2) of same Constitution. Conversely, since the subject matter of equality of opportunity is a human rights issue; and concomitantly, one of the most contested concepts. This disquisition adopted a doctrinal approach for the purpose of interrogating equality of opportunity within the Nigerian federalism. Consequently, it is the writer’s contestation that since most states in Nigerian federalism are rainbow society in composition. Therefore, without the replication of Federal Character Commission at the state level just like the various Child’s Rights Laws that have been passed into law by majority of State Houses of Assembly, as well as the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission that serves the purpose of EFCC, the purport and import of the said federal character principle as contained in section 14(3) of the Constitution, will remain inchoate.